Spacebridge Timeline

The FCC legalizes the use of SSTV (slow-scan television) for advanced level amateur radio operators. This technology paves the way for the two-way video communications used in the 1980s spacebridges.

March 1969

Rusty Schweickart and the Apollo 9 mission launch into orbit. Schweickart has a “metaphysical experience” in space which spurs his subsequent interest in global communication and connecting citizens from different countries.

1972

Leaders of Esalen travel to the Soviet Union — the first of many exchanges focused on the study of parapsychological phenomena. Newsweek would later dub their dialogue “hot-tub diplomacy.”

December 1979

The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan leading to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

1981

On sabbatical from his job at Apple, Steve Wozniak hatches the idea for the US Festival.

1982

Rusty Schweickart and Esalen representative Jim Hickman meet a high-ranking Soviet officials to discuss the idea of a space-bridge event.

September 5, 1982

The first US-USSR satellite “tele-link” connects Russian audiences with attendees of the US Festival — but only for a brief few minutes.

March 1983

Ronald Reagan refers to the U.S.S.R. as “an evil Empire.”

May 1983

The “spacebridge” program re-launches with the second US Festival, this time featuring an intercontinental jam session and a Q&A forum with live audiences in both countries.

March 1985

Mikhail Gorbachev is elevated to General Secretary of the Soviet Union, ushering the official era of perestroika (“restructuring”) and glasnost (“transparency” or “openness”).

1985

Schweickart’s “Association of Space Explorers” is officially formed, connecting NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts who have completed one space orbit (the organization now boasts 400 members from 37 different countries).

December 1985

Phil Donahue and Soviet TV personality Vladimir Pozner host their first "Citizens' Summit." It's seen on American TV in early 1986. The New York Times is not impressed.

ABC airs a primetime space-bridge program, hosted by Marlo Thomas and featuring 40 American and Soviet children, along with a dizzying array of guest stars — everyone from Bon Jovi to Lily Tomlin to Kermit the Frog.

November 1989

The Berlin Wall collapses; Gorbachev moves to loosen much of the centralized political and economic machinery that closely controlled the Soviet states.